Dembare, Bosso referee was wearing a blue jersey under his kit?

by Staff reporter

04 Nov 2019 at 12:01hrs | Views

Dynamos 1 - 1 HighlandersI WAS disappointed with the referee, I must say. He just wasn't fit enough for a game of that stature." Those were the words of Sir Alex Ferguson when he described the officiating from Alan Wiley during Manchester United's 2-2 draw against Sunderland in 2009.

Referee Munyaradzi Majoni struggled to contain the game which could have gone out of hand from the start when Highlanders players were involved in ugly skirmishes with a section of the home fans after scaling the fence into the supporters' zone in order to gain access into the stadium.

Then the state of the turf at Rufaro yesterday was something else for such a high profile game with the middle patch of the ground covered in mud which made it difficult for the ball to flow.

And Highlanders coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh, who has been credited with the transformation at the Bulawayo giants this year, blew his top in a post-match tirade.

De Jongh was also not happy his team spent 35 minutes outside the stadium before the hosts opened the gates for them and also had no kind words for referee Majoni for the way he handled the game.

"Today I have seen a lot of things for the first time in my life. This is surprising in my 29 years of coaching in 12 countries in the world," said De Jongh.

"Firstly, how is it possible for professional football, I will give an example, the PSL which I believe is a professional organisation, how is it possible that we had to spend 35 minutes out of the stadium.

"I have never seen that in my life, it's lack of organisation. It's not possible that you stay 35 minutes outside the stadium and the gates are not opened!

"Second point, football is for the fans whether it's Dynamos, Highlanders or Platinum . . . It's for everyone. But football has to be played on a good ground, on a good pitch.

"This pitch is so bad and it doesn't make it possible for good football.

"I think today the referee gave us raw deal. I counted, he gave us only two free kicks in the half of the opponents and 18 free kicks in our half. How is that possible?

"But I think it was a 50-50 game. There was no good communication between our defenders and Dynamos scored. But good football was not possible on this pitch, it was a terrible pitch.

"I have a garden back home and they are almost the same. I am a professional coach, I like football but I cannot play on this pitch," said De Jongh.

"He gave Dynamos 18 free kicks in dangerous areas; I was counting. On our side, he only gave us two free kicks in the opponents' half."

"Then of course I thought we showed some character in coming back especially if you want to consider the psychological factor that we have always been losing to Highlanders in these high profile matches."